Christine wrote:
> I've heard of people cooking with bacon fat.
Oh I can't tell you how wonderful it *was*! Now I know better and only dream
about it! (Cornbread, fried eggs, bacon gravy....oh sob sob...I apologize to
you all.)
> I dearly love cornbread. How do you make
yours? With or without sugar? With or without actual corn? With or
without Jalapenos?
Ah now this is a whole can of wo**s...well maybe I won't say that in this
context :) But cornbread can be about a dozen different dishes, depending on
who you ask. *My* cornbread in the old days had no flour, no sugar, only
cornmeal, eggs, baking powder, baking soda, sour milk, and the very essential
(whispering here) bacon fat. This is really southern style (my grandmother's
from Tennessee). We call that stuff with sugar in it cooked by the
Northerners (like you, Christine) "johnny cake" which is the *proper* name for
sweet cornbread <g>.
Unfortunately I had to compromise my principles slightly to make good non-fat
cornbread. Adding a little flour compensates for the loss in texture due to
lack of fat. It's not sweet, though, and it's really good, although I am
still experimenting to make it moister. I imagine yellow cornmeal would be
moister but I prefer blue. Since John also asked for the recipe, I'll post it
here:
This recipe is a modification of one offered by Bob Simmons (thanks, Bob):
FAT FREE BLUE CORNBREAD
1 cup blue cornmeal
1/2 cup flour (whole wheat is healthiest but any kind works)
1 TB baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 TB Smucker's Baking Healthy (fruit puree fat-substitute that comes in a
nifty squeeze bottle)
3/4 C milk
2 oz egg substitute
Preheat oven to 425F. Spray pan with Pam and put in oven to preheat. Mix all
ingredients, pour into pan, and bake for about 20 minutes if loaf pan, 15
minutes if segmented pan (see note). Test for doneness by inserting a
toothpick which should come out clean.
Note: Using segmented pans for cornbread is a lot of fun. Usually the pans
are made of cast iron. I have one which has 6 piece-of-pie shaped segments
and have seen those with 6 or 8 segments shaped like ears of corn. Of course
a loaf pan or an iron skillet works well too but needs a little longer to
cook.
The fat-free archives also have about 20 cornbread recipes!!! Take a look at
http://www.fatfree.com.
P.S. Humor is good, Jan (who relishes relish) and Christine (who doesn't)!
Most of us will "get it"! Just keep adding lots of smiley faces :) :) :) for
those who can't read between the lines! I *loved* the relish thread!
--
Riki Darling
Spinner, Knitter, Navajo Weaver, Dyer, and Idea Enthusiast
Salt Lake City, Utah
rdarling@xxxxxxx